It is estimated that 250,000 children throughout the world are being deployed as soldiers. The German Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers launched the Red Hand Day Campaign in 2004 to draw attention to this abuse.

At this year’s Red Hand Day (12 February), children and youths will present their handprints to Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who will also take part with a red print of his own hand. The presenter Miriam Pielhau will host Red Hand Day. The musician Wolfgang Niedecken will sing an acoustic version of the BAP song Noh Gulu.

Children, youths and adults around the world have collected more than 300,000 red handprints since the Red Hand Day Campaign was launched in 2004, more than a third of them in Germany.